Table 1.

Characteristics of studies included in the meta-analysis

Years	First author	Country	Type of study	Total number of patients	LC + LCBDE			LC + ERCP/EST
					Number of patients	Sex (male/female)	Age (years)	Number of patients	Sex (male/female)	Age (years)
1999	Cuschieri et al.[4]	Scotland	RCT	300	150	60/90	19-88	150	42/108	18-89
2002	Sgourakis [5]	Greece	RCT	78	36	15/21	43-88	42	17/25	46-89
2005	Nathanson et al.[6]	Australia	RCT	86	41	16/25	56.1 (17-91)	45	17/28	53.6 (18-92)
2009	Noble et al.[7]	The UK	RCT	91	44	16/28	75.9 (70-80.8)	47	22/25	74.3 (70-78.9)
2010	Bansal et al.[8]	India	RCT	30	15	4/11	47.1 (34-72)	15	5/10	39.07 (23-64)
2010	Rogers et al.[9]	America	RCT	112	57	17/40	39.9±1.9	55	16/39	44.6±1.9
2013	Koc et al.[10]	Turkey	RCT	111	57	20/37	51.5±16.6	54	18/36	54.9±17.9
2014	Bansal et al.[11]	India	RCT	168	84	23/61	45.1±15.1	84	34/50	43±13.7
2014	Ding et al.[12]	China	RCT	221	110	53/57	58.42±7.21	111	53/58	57.53±6.31
2016	Barreras González et al.[13]>	Cuba	RCT	88	43	-	-	45	-	-
2016	Lv et al.[14]	China	RCT	53	29	20/9	61.3±14.5	24	15/9	63.5±12.4

RCT: Randomized controlled trial, CBD: Common bile duct, LC: Laparoscopic cholecystectomy, ERCP: Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography, LCBDE: Laparoscopic CBD exploration, EST: Endoscopic sphincterotomy